am with a smile; and directly after he was
admitted, and the door closed and fastened once more.

Frank confined his words to friendly inquiries as to the old servant's
health, and she hesitated after replying, as if expecting that he would
begin to question her; but he went on upstairs, and shut himself in the
gloomy-looking room overlooking the Park. Then, obeying his first
impulse, he walked to the window to throw back the shutters.

"No. Wouldn't do," he said to himself. "There is sure to be some one
watching the house from the back, and it would show them that I came
straight here for some particular reason. I can manage in the dark."

It was not quite dark to one who well knew the place; and with beating
heart he went across to the picture, and, familiar now with the
ingenious mechanism, he pressed the fastening, and then stood still,
with the picture turned so that the closet stood open before him.

He hesitated, for though he was so full of hope that he felt quite
certain that there would be some communication from his father, he did
not like to put it to the test for fear of disappointment. That he
felt--after his brave defence of his father, and his belief that he
would be able to find a letter which would sweep away all doubt and
prove to his mother that she was wrong--would be almost unbearable, and
so he waited for quite two minutes.

"Oh, what a coward I am," he muttered at last; and running his hand
along the bottom shelf, he felt for the letter he hoped to find.

His heart sank, for there was nothing there, and he hesitated once more,
feeling that half his chance was gone. But there was the upper shelf,
and once more with beating heart he began to pass his hand over it very
slowly, and the next moment he touched a packet, which began to glide
along the shelf. Then he started back, thrust to the canvas-covered
panel and fastened it almost in one movement, turning as he did so to
face the door, which was slowly opened, and a dimly seen figure stepped
forward, to stand gazing in.

"Why didn't I lock the door after me?" thought the boy, who was half
wild now with excitement and dread, as he tried to make out by the few
rays which struck across from the shutters who the man could be.

That was too hard; but it seemed from the attitude that his back was
half turned to him, and that he was trying to see what was going on in
the room.

The next moment he had proof that he was right, for the dimly